The Dog Days of Shadow

My parents have made the incredibly difficult decision to send Shadow, the very beloved family dog to the rainbow bridge. She's been with us for 11 and a half years, and has always been a dream dog. 

She first came into our family's life from my Uncle & Aunt. Shadow was supposed to be going down to California, but the travel got delayed, so at 12(?) weeks old, they asked us to watch her for a couple days. Well oh of COURSE we fell completely head over heels in love with her. She was one of those puppies you would pick up and she would absolutely melt into your arms. She's always been the sweetest, most calm and cuddly dog ever. She was therapy for anyone she came in contact with. Any person who every touched her couldn't help but comment on how soft she was. She honestly had the most silky fur I've ever felt. Lo and behold, the transfer to California never happened and she stayed with us! Not what my Mom had in mind, with 4 kids at home and another dog, but Shadow even won her over.

Over the last few weeks/months, Shadow had been visibly aging and deteriorating. There had been many trips to the vet to see about prolonging comfort and what could be done for her. She had almost completely stopped eating the last week or two and was rapidly losing weight. She was weak, and refusing to go for walks most of the time. Extensive dental surgery, exploratory procedures, pain medication and special diet are among the things recommended. She was almost 12 years old, and it didn't make sense to put in thousands of dollars for dental surgery and exploratory procedures. The best guess from the vet is that she was in a lot of pain due to pancreatitis, enlarged spleen (or some other huge mass moving her organs out of the way in her abdomen), dental pain, and general old age pains. 

Mom & Dad thought hard about this, but ultimately felt she was not getting any better, although the pain meds seemed to make her a little bit more comfortable. She was going to starve herself to death; a few bites of chicken each day isn't enough to keep a medium-large dog going. They felt like her quality of life was diminishing and didn't want to risk it going to the point where she was in distress. 

Alas, we say goodbye to our beautiful Shadow. Why is saying goodbye to pets so hard? Being 39 weeks pregnant probably isn't helping. 

Shadow had a wonderful life. Her favorite things were her family, her peanut-butter bone, and going to the cabin to swim and chase sticks. She never missed a chance to grab a shoe or a slipper to carry around when we walked in the door. She rolled in the grass every single day after her dinner, and never missed a chance to lay under the table while we ate. She was a gentle soul, but also earned her reputation as the fun-police when other dogs started getting too rambunctious, according to her. She loved to cuddle and would sneak up onto the couch any chance she got. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Shadow through the years. Some taken by me, some just stolen from Facebook :)

I mean who wouldn't have fallen head over heels for this little ball of snuggle fluff?!

Lots of pictures of Shadow in her happy place at the cabin.

Fun Police in action with a rowdy 6 month old Sherlock

Celebrating Sherlock's first birthday. Sherlock learned how to be a well-mannered dog around other dogs because of Shadow. She trained him well!

And a couple from my final goodbye yesterday. She passed today at 3:40 pm.